Customer Ratings & Reviews

I received this via the mail with some other gift cards. This card was not activated.

PlayStation isn't worth anyone's time don't bother with buying the playstation in the first place

My son had the subscription last year and thoroughly enjoyed, just got new sunscription.

Wish we didn’t need a subscription to play online like we use to for the ps3

I didn’t work I don’t think it was scanned to be activated

I had a stolen card and someone else purchased this item

no pro or cons about this item,no tech stuff either it's just a card for playstation.

Just learned that the downloads are only good, and transferable if you renew each year.

I prefer the good days when this was not a required purchase like XBOXlive.

Can't play much online with out this card, so I paid full price for it.

Over sold item that i was lied to about that you need it to active the ps4

I attempted to redeem for the 12 months and it didn’t work!

The PlayStation network needs to go back to being free.

This does NOT do anything once I used the code I threw it away

Back in my day playstation online was free. Kinda disappointed

Not really sure what I'm getting out of this! Hahahah

Don't get PlayStation it is a waste of your time..

Ever since the rise of the digital age the world has become a more connected place. The gaming industry particularly has been receiving a huge surge in interests over the years and has shown no sign of slowing down yet. Sony, one of the worlds leading hardware manufactures of consumer electronics has been seeing huge success with its gaming subdivision called PlayStation. In order to capitalize on the rise of online gaming by having the ability to play online, a service that was once free on its systems, was heavily restricted for its upcoming next generation console the PlayStation 4, unless players subscribed to a service called PlayStation Plus. The $60 annual subscription-based service offers a few things over its competitors at the time with its free games per month, and exclusive access to cloud saves, in addition to its online play that while not perfect, was a step in the right direction for the health of the industry as a whole. This service was introduced mainly to be a more consumer friendly version of Microsoft’s Xbox live gold that its main competitor offered. It originally was a service that consumers could purchase that allowed them to receive free monthly games on its systems should they subscribe. When the current generation of gaming consoles came out at the end of 2013, the service was expanded upon and remarketed. The service would now include the ability to play online, a feature that was once free on its systems till then. This was received with mixed reviews as people were feared that they’re being nickel and dimed for something that was once free in the PlayStation family. The service would eventually lead to a huge change in the industry’s view of subscription-based services in the years that followed, but at the time of its announcement in 2010 was the most appealing option on the market. The main feature of the service in the PlayStation 4 era was the ability to play online. Since the beginning of the millennium more and more console games had begun to embrace the wonders of online gaming. With the passing of the years demand for better service of servers which are designed to handle the stress of connecting everyone to each other and user functionality grew. Nowadays connecting online is seamless and practically a requirement as games are constantly being updated to include more content and updates to fix issues left over from development. Connecting to others doesn’t just mean playing together in some online lobbies for a couple of rounds, but the ability to stream your game for the world to see. The ability to chat with your friends in private messages on its servers. Following communities that have similar interests to you to set up events or just to chat for a bit of fun. These services are funded using the profits of the service, so the community keeps its ecosystem alive. Shuhei Yoshida head of Worldwide Studios at the time now Head of an Independent Developer Initiative for Sony Interactive Entertainment has stated as much back in 2013, “We're developing many new ways to play and connect which requires a large investment of resources," Yoshida said. "Considering the cost, to try to keep such a service free and consequently lower the quality would be absurd. We decided that if that's the case, then it would be better to receive proper payment and continue to offer a good service." (Kotaku). The next big feature would be the monthly free games that are offered. Every month there would be two games offered in each of PlayStation systems that the subscription covers that being the PlayStation 3, 4, and the PlayStation Vita the company’s handheld portable gaming device. This feature was the original incentive to get the service back in its infancy and has only grown since then. Like other forms of entertainment such as Netflix or Disney+ you can watch or in PlayStations case play the titles offered if a subscription is active. If it were to be deactivated and renewed later, the games that had been claimed are still there to enjoy. The key word there is claimed as in order to play them they first need to be “purchased” by selecting it from the digital store either on the system or online on your computer. These extra steps meant that newer members or those who had just forgotten to claim them would not have access to the titles that were once offered up in the past once a new month begins. This is an unnecessary step as it just complicates the process of acquiring the games and in return limiting its audience as newer members would be turned away by not having access to a decade’s long library of titles that its senior members have enjoyed. Another point of concern for some is that of the developers of the titles. The fear is that since players are getting to try their games for free that the developer doesn’t make a profit off those users thereby putting the development studio at risk of closure. While the politics and background deals being made between the publishers and Sony surrounding this are complicated to say the least leaving developers with little to no profit from said, there does seem to be a slimmer of hope for the development studios which make up the titles. Some developers such as Avalanche Studios, developers of the just cause franchise say that they "hasn't seen a dime" (gamasutra) from the offering of their latest game at the time Just Cause 2, a game published by Square Enix back in 2013. The surprising thing however is that this wasn’t a concern for them. Christofer Sundberg, founder and chief creative officer over at Avalanche Studios had stated. "I don't know how much, if any, Square Enix has made from the game [on PS Plus], but we have only received a lot of great PR and gamer feedback," he said. "That's worth more than a few dollars in royalty to us at this point." (gamasutra). The last major feature of the subscription is that of having access to cloud saves for the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. Cloud Saves for the unaware are essentially files that carry the data that one has accumulated of their progress through any specific game that are stored on an online server where they can then be downloaded at a later date if the save data were to be lost on the system due to corruption of the file or deletion for space on the hard drive. Another thing you can do is download your save on another PlayStation and continue where you left off. This way you don’t have to bring your system along for casual hangout as you’re the only one who took the time to unlock all the content that a game provides and have that one friend that really likes to play the bonus mode on his favorite party game. This feature while certainly a nice convince to have has received some criticism rightfully directed towards it. The controversy being that such a convince feature should be free to everyone on the systems as its just a quality of life upgrade that benefits any user of the systems. The PlayStation Plus service would have a lasting impact on the industry as people noticed the community reaction to the program. Die hard gaming fans were drawn in by the monthly free games. Developers were getting more loyal fans and having their games online player base thrive longer, small indie developers were having their games noticed by a large group of players and receiving great PR from it creating new communities where there wouldn’t have been otherwise. Sony receiving revenue to improve its services and help make more deals in the future. The service would prove to be so successful that major players such as E.A., Ubisoft and even Microsoft would come up with their own versions and in Microsoft’s case update their existing services to compete in this new battleground. The future looks bright for the industry and with so much competition now Sony has their work cut out for them if they want to stay on top.

Pretty good membership, easy to use, great to have for online games

Great usage. I can finally play online again woooo.